Security
Port
A Security Port Blog
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The
third computer hacker attack this year on the popular Internet site
Twitter shows the weakness of the companys security systems, U.S.
experts say.
Twitter officials say no user information appears to have been stolen
in Fridays attack, in which a hacker obtained the password to enter the
popular sites master directory of Internet addresses. But experts told
The New York Times the incident illustrates continuing problems.
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Iranian Tensions |
12/28/2009
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Political
conflict and public piety converged on tension-filled streets in
Tehran, Iran, on Saturday. Clashes erupted between riot police and
opposition protesters as hundreds of people solemnly took part in an
annual Shiite Muslim observance.
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Pope Protection Difficult |
12/28/2009
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It
is impossible to ensure 100% security for the pope without erecting a
barrier between him and believers, the Vatican spokesman said after an
attack at Benedict XVI on Thursday night.
A woman jumped a barrier and rushed at Pope Benedict XVI during the
Christmas Eve Mass, for the second time in two years, managing to knock
him down.
Benedict, 82, was not hurt and continued the procession to the altar at
St. Peter's Basilica. On Friday, he delivered traditional Christmas
greetings and urged people worldwide to abandon violence and coexist
peacefully.
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Heightened Security |
12/27/2009
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U.S.
and European airports were tightening security Saturday following an
attempt Friday by a suspected terrorist, who allegedly claimed Qaeda
ties, to blow up a Northwest Airlines plane as it approached a landing
in Detroit, according to media reports.
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FBI Concerned with Pop-up Security |
12/27/2009
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The
FBI is warning consumers about an ongoing threat involving pop-up
security messages that appear while they are on the Internet.
The messages may contain a virus that could harm your computer, cause
costly repairs or, even worse, lead to identity theft. The messages
contain scareware, fake or rogue anti-virus software that looks
authentic.
The message may display what appears to be a real-time, anti-virus scan
of your hard drive. The scareware will show a list of reputable
software icons; however, you can not click a link to go to the real
site to review or see recommendations. Cyber criminals use
botnets—collections of compromised computers—to push the software,
and advertisements on websites deliver it. This is known as malicious
advertising or malvertising.
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Fair Internet Use |
12/27/2009
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There
are real security problems and many, many threats, not only from e-mail
but also from web browsing. Your employee could be browsing online,
come across a link, click on it, and download a little file. Thats how
some piece of malware finds its way onto the machine and from there it
gets into all the machines on the network.
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Chinese ISP Hosts 1 in 7 Conficker Infections |
12/25/2009
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Security
experts have known for months that some countries have had a harder
time battling the Conficker worm than others. But thanks to data
released Wednesday by Shadowserver, a volunteer-run organization, they
now have a better idea of which Internet Service Providers have the
biggest problem.
In terms of the total number of infected computers, China Telecoms
Chinanet seems to have been hardest hit by the worm, which began
spreading late last year.
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Improperly Collected Info On Nation of Islam |
12/24/2009
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Homeland
security officials improperly gathered intelligence on the Nation of
Islam, a black Muslim group, but U.S. government rules were unintentionally and inadvertently violated and only publicly available information was collected, according to documents made public Wednesday.
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China Internet Controls |
12/23/2009
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Chinas
government censors have taken fresh aim at the Internet, rolling out
new measures that limit its citizens’ ability to set up personal Web
sites and to view hundreds of Web sites offering films, video games and
other forms of entertainment.
The authorities say the stricter controls are intended to protect
children from pornography; to limit the piracy of films, music, and
television shows; and to make it hard to perpetuate Internet scams. But
the measures also appear devised to enhance the government’s already
strict control of any political opposition.
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The
third computer hacker attack this year on the popular Internet site
Twitter shows the weakness of the company's security systems, U.S.
experts say.
Twitter officials say no user information appears to have been stolen
in Friday's attack, in which a hacker obtained the password to enter
the popular site's master directory of Internet addresses. But experts
told The New York Times the incident illustrates continuing problems.
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Guilty Plea in Leak |
12/21/2009
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Prosecutors
say a former linguist for the FBI has pleaded guilty to leaking
classified documents to a blogger who posted the information online.
Officials say 39-year-old Shamai Kedem Leibowitz of Silver Spring, Md.,
admitted giving secret documents to the unidentified host of the Web
site.
Under a plea deal Thursday in federal court in Greenbelt, Md.,
Leibowitz is expected to receive a prison term of one year and eight
months.
The FBI says Leibowitz held a top security clearance for his work as a
linguist, and in April of this year gave the blogger documents about
U.S. communication intelligence activities.
Officials would not say what the information was or where it appeared online.
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Microsoft Apologizes for Code Theft |
12/20/2009
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Microsoft,
famous for prosecuting infringements on its intellectual property, got
some mud in the eye this week. Amid charges that its Juku
micro-blogging service for China contained code and design elements
stolen from Plurk.com, Microsoft issued a formal apology on Wednesday.
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Rutgers and Security |
12/18/2009
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Thanks
to part of a $30 million grant from the U.S. Department of Homeland
Security, Rutgers scholars will head the federal agency's new data
analysis research center. The goal is to improve intelligence at
federal and state agencies.
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Twitter as a Business Tool |
12/17/2009
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Businesses
can use Twitter as a marketing tool in a variety of ways. Many business
owners struggle with social media as a marketing medium. At the heart
of the most effective social media marketing campaigns is personal
communication. Many businesses that try to manage social media may
attempt to shout their message, rather than simply engaging with
potential customers. Potential customers who are active in social
networks will not be receptive to marketing in this fashion. The trick
with social media like Twitter is to interact and engage, rather than
shouting your message.
Twitter as a Business Tool
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Blackwater Denies CIA Cover Up |
12/16/2009
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Guards
from American security company Blackwater participated in CIA raids on
suspected militants in Iraq and Afghanistan, the New York Times says.
It reported that the raids revealed a greater level of involvement
between the spy agency and Blackwater than previously acknowledged by
either.
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Security Fears Limit Iraqs Options |
12/15/2009
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Iraqs bid to auction off oil exploration rights Friday showed companies are still reluctant to enter the country.
Only two of the eight fields on offer resulted in deals in the first
day of the countrys second oil auction this year. Five in regions still
plagued by unrest were withdrawn and a sixth field drew only one bid.
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Symantec and Amazon |
12/14/2009
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Global
security, storage and systems management solutions provider Symantec is
offering its next-generation security and enterprise-class storage
management solutions through the Amazon elastic compute cloud Amazon
EC2.
Under the agreement, Symantec end-point protection and Veritas storage
foundation basic are now available on Amazon EC2. Symantec solutions
will provide that essential additional protection to businesses Windows
servers in the cloud.
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Hacker Fighting Extradition |
12/12/2009
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Computer hacker Gary McKinnon is mounting a fresh High Court challenge to stop his extradition to the US.
Solicitor Karen Todner said papers were lodged with the High Court
seeking a judicial review of the home secretarys decision not to block
his transfer.
The home secretary has 14 days to respond before a judge considers it.
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91 Security Breaches |
12/10/2009
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The
media spotlight has focused on the brash couple who recently managed to
attend a White House state dinner, but a U.S. Secret Service training
document details 91 breaches of security between 1980 and 2003.
Secret Service spokesman Edwin Donovan confirmed the existence of the
internal report, which was first disclosed in the Washington Post on
Monday. Donovan would not provide CNN a copy of the report, but said it
is a historical document that is used to help train agents in
preventing and responding to breaches of security.
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Iranian Internet Down |
12/09/2009
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Most
of the Iranian capital's Internet links with the outside world were
down on Saturday, two days ahead of planned demonstrations by opponents
of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Sources close to Iran's technical services told AFP the cut was the result of a decision by the authorities rather than a technical breakdown, but telecommunications ministry officials were unavailable for comment.
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Innocent URLs Not Always Innocent |
12/08/2009
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Everyday
Internet users will be a key target for cybercriminals looking to get
people to download their malware, while the proliferation of social
sites such as Facebook and Twitter will lead to an increase of possible
fraud cases, reported Symantec.
At a media briefing Wednesday, the security vendor released a report
outlining security threats enterprises and consumers should be mindful
of in 2010. Of these, the security risk faced by everyday Internet
users is likely to increase as criminals look to trick people into
downloading malware through means such as an innocent-looking URL link
or videos and pictures from unknown sources.
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CERT Australia |
12/07/2009
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The
new computer emergency response team, CERT Australia, will expect
internet service providers to be more active in cleaning up infected
computers operating on their networks.
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Chinese Internet Virus |
12/06/2009
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A
computer worm that China warned Internet users against is an updated
version of the Panda Burning Incense virus, which infected millions of
PCs in the country three years ago, according to McAfee.
The original Panda worm, also known as Fujacks, caused widespread
damage at a time when public knowledge about online security was low,
and led to the country's first arrests for virus writing in 2007. The
new worm variant, one of many that have appeared since late 2006, adds
a malicious component meant to make infection harder to detect, said Vu
Nguyen, a McAfee Labs researcher.
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Hackers
have built a virus that attacks Apple Incs iPhone by secretly taking
control of the devices via their Internet connections, security experts
said.
The virus has been detected in the Netherlands and can only attack
iPhones whose users have disabled some pre-installed security features,
according to analysts monitoring the progress of the virus, known as
the Duh Worm.
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Twitter for Business |
12/04/2009
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Businesses
can use Twitter as a marketing tool in a variety of ways. Many business
owners struggle with social media as a marketing medium. At the heart
of the most effective social media marketing campaigns is personal
communication. Many businesses that try to manage social media may
attempt to shout their message, rather than simply engaging with
potential customers. Potential customers who are active in social
networks will not be receptive to marketing in this f
Twitter for Business
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Podcasting Bundle |
12/04/2009
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The
Podcasting Bundle includes FeedForALl and RecordForAll, it makes it
simple to record audio files, layer audio files, edit audio files and
publish podcast feeds.
Complete Solution for Podcasting
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Intelligence Docments |
12/03/2009
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President
Obama will maintain a lid of secrecy on millions of pages of military
and intelligence documents that were scheduled to be declassified by
the end of the year, according to administration officials.
The missed deadline spells trouble for the White Houses promises to
introduce an era of government openness, say advocates, who believe
that releasing historical information enforces a key check on
government behavior. They cite as an example the abuses by the Central
Intelligence Agency during the Cold War, including domestic spying and
assassinations of foreign officials, that were publicly outlined in a
set of agency documents known as the family jewels.
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Manage Your Reputation Online |
12/02/2009
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When
you encounter a mention of your products or services that casts a
negative implication, try not to let anger or emotion dictate how you
respond. Always behave professionally when providing responses, and
always try to offer solutions and assistance. This can often be
instrumental in changing the public perception about your company brand
when problems arise. Your reputation is important, so be proactive!
Manage Your Reputation Online
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The
numbers of people attending emergency rooms and walk-in clinics with
flu-like illness is decreasing across the health district, but a
physician with Annapolis Valley Health says do not develop a false
sense of security.
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Cyber Monday and Security |
11/30/2009
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Cyber
Monday is a great way for parents to shop online without the crazy
crowds of Black Friday. So, how can you get the best deals on Cyber
Monday, while making sure your identity is protected? With a bit of
research and a few safeguards, parents can still get amazing deals
online without having to stand in line for hours. Cyber Monday is a
win-win for both retailers and consumers.
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Acorn Wants Trash Back |
11/30/2009
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20,000 documents were taken from ACORNs trash behind their office in National City and they want them back.
Derrick Roach, a private investigator, said he took more than 20,000
documents from the caged trash area behind ACORNs office, on October
9th and posted them on the web site biggovernment.com.
The documents shown on the website and also displayed for a news
conference on Monday, show driver's licenses, Social Security numbers,
immigration records, credit reports, tax returns, credit card
statements and bank accounts numbers from ACORN members or job
applicants.
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Security Software |
11/29/2009
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In
security software, you have plenty of options, from free antivirus
programs to paid ones to full-blown, multifunction security suites. The
big issue, of course, is deciding which approach is right for you.
These usually include an antimalware program and a firewall, plus other
features such as protection against phishing and scams, spam filtering,
parental controls, and Website filtering. Some suites also bundle
system tune-up tools. Prices typically run about $50 to $70 for a
one-year, one-PC subscription. Take a look at the best Internet
security suites.
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Comcast Hackers Sentenced |
11/25/2009
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Three hackers have been indicted for redirecting the Comcast.net Web site to a page of their own making in 2008.
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